Valves are known to be useful for regulating the flow of fluids. Moreover, compressible and expandable bellows structures have been known to be useful for controlling high pressure and/or high temperature fluids to enable the facilitated regulation of such valves. For example, valves can be opened and closed through the use of bellows, which can expand and/or compress based on the fluids (or lack thereof) contained within the bellows, and/or the fluids surrounding the bellows.
In an environment in which it is necessary to maintain the temperature within a certain safe operating range, valves can be used to regulate temperature by introducing a coolant or a heating fluid into the system, if the temperature begins to exceed safe operating thresholds. For example, in the context of a gas turbine, the turbine may generate electricity using heated gases. It is known that the thermodynamic efficiency of a gas turbine increases as the operating temperature increases, as higher temperature gases contain more energy, thereby producing greater work or electricity yields. At the same time, certain components of gas turbines operate most efficiently at temperatures that are lower, relative to the higher temperature gases that increase turbine efficiency. In other words, gas turbines operate within an ideal temperature range—one in which the gases are hot enough to provide high levels of efficiency, but low enough to ensure that the components of the gas turbine are not overheated, which could damage certain turbine components, or worse, render them inoperable.
In this example, it would be helpful to utilize a temperature actuated valve that serves to maintain the temperature of the turbine within a preset range. The gas turbine operates in its temperature, which temperature would slowly rise as more and more gases combust to produce work and electricity. When the temperature increases and reaches a point at which the turbine components may begin to be susceptible to damage, the temperature actuated valve would enable the release and flow of a coolant through the valve, thereby cooling the temperature of the environment, to prevent damage to the turbine components.
In a different type of environment, it might be beneficial to use a temperature actuated valve to prevent the temperature from decreasing below a certain threshold, for example, below the point where water begins to freeze. Since water expands when it freezes, water pipes and faucets can be damaged through exposure to freezing conditions. In this example, once the temperature falls and approaches the freezing point of water, a temperature actuated valve could open and allow a heated fluid or antifreeze to either warm the temperature or lower the freezing point, thereby preventing damage to the pipes or faucet.
Accordingly, there are many potential uses for a temperature actuated valve that incorporates at least two pressure-balanced bellows.